Lucky Catch
by Kawaii Kitsune Cub
Summary: If anything can beckon in a succesful new Hokage, it's a little competition. Naruto versus the fishOdoom! Snippets of SasuSaku and NaruHina. One Shot.


Ne, my first lil' foray into the Naruto fandom... and I got the idea for this one day in class. Yes, at my school, you really are graded at how well you can catch a fish, toss it in a plastic bag, and bring it home without dying. Fun, ne?But I haven't played one of those goldfish game booths since I was waaaay younger -- and it was one of my favorite games, too, come to think of it. Of course, my mom wasn't too happy about the ugly little one dollar goldfish living in her eighty-dollar crystal vase (and even more unhappy when that same goldfish grew big enough to clog the toilet when we tried to flush it down the drain on the day it died), but, hey, it's all for the kids... ;;

And, yes, I _am_ a sucker for Naruto/Hinata fics. X x

* * *

A carnival... bright paper lanterns, fireworks, people. Masses and masses of faces, some with scars, some young, some old, some so battle worn you could literally read their past with a glance. But no one cared. Today was a new start, a new Hokage, the beginning of true rebirth of the hidden village of Konoha.

One genin, however, with black hair and piercing eyes, surveyed the scene with a twinge of annoyance. They were all celebrating, even though the streets below their feet was still churned and torn from the scaled bellies that had once slithered through. A gaping wound that was hidden by a show of indifference.

"Sasuke-kun?" He ignored her, and brushed a hand against the cotton yukata that Sakura had made him wear. Well, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi. Once one of them started to get the ball rolling, it wasn't difficult for the rest to be "coerced" into joining in on the fun. Right... fun.

Screw fun. He had more important things to take care of. Revenge and training, to name a few.

"Sasuke, you idiot! Stop acting all cool and get over here!" Naruto, now. The blond crumpled up the wax-lined paper cone, all that was left of his snowcone, and tossed it at the surviving Uchiha. With a half-hearted backhand smack, the trash bounced to the dirty streets, and the genin gave a sideways stare at his teammates. With a sigh, Sakura bounced her small silk drawstring bag, embroidered with sakura blossoms, as was her kimono, and managed a wry smile.

"Sasuke-kun, there is a reason we brought you here."

Silence.

"And it's not just so we could bother you. Naruto and I," she elbowed her teammate next to her, and the boy's gaze wandered back from the ramen stand. Nodding energetically, Naruto rubbed his arm and tried his best to give Sakura a dirty look, for which she rewarded him with another jab - this time to the ribs. "Well, we really thought you could use a chance to have a little bit of fun. We aren't just shinobi, you know. We're people, too," she continued.

From his secluded little pocket in the otherwise happy passerby, Sasuke shifted his weight and both Naruto and Sakura froze, then begrudgingly moved a bit further away from each other. With a grin on his face, Naruto moved an inch closer to the Ramen stand. "Yeah, man. Lighten up."

The statuesque Sasuke moved, but one fist still stayed clenched. "I don't have time for fun." Neither Sakura nor Naruto seemed to see him, as their eyes traveled upwards. The Uchiha boy barely had time to glance behind him before a rough hand planted itself on his shoulder.

"Be lucky Gai isn't around to hear you complain about you squandering your youth, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi stated, his uncovered eye searching the partying shinobi as if the taijutsu-expert was waiting for a chance to leap out at them. That same eye crinkled in a smile, which was the only way Kakashi's students could tell whether or not he was showing any type of emotion. Although their sensei had "Dressed-down" with a simple cotton yukata, the same dark hue of blue as his usual Jounin outfit, his cloth facemask and forehead protector still stayed fixed in place.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she quickly bowed her head in hello. "Kakashi-sensei."

"Heya." Kakashi smiled, and patted Sasuke's shoulder. "Now how about we go and have ourselves some fun?"

"Fun? FUN? Sensei, you were supposed to meet us an hour ago!" The white-haired jounin sweatdropped at the outburst, and took a step back from the fox boy. "Naruto-kun, really. I have a perfectly reasonable explanation, just calm down..!" With a cough, Kakashi composed himself as the blond, dressed in an orange yukata, crossed his arms. "I'm not really much of the superstitious type, but I figured I might as well get you all a little present, for the festival and all."

All three students blinked. A present? Now that was something new. As Kakashi fiddled around the inside of one sleeve for the mentioned gifts, each shared the same run of puzzled thoughts as the other. Suppose it wasn't really a gift of goodwill but, rather, a test? Kakashi-sensei was fond of those...

"Ah, here we go!" What he pulled out was disarming, indeed: three small origami charms, made of brilliantly colored paper and each hanging from a bright red string. Attached to each looped string was a tiny brass bell. "Just a little something I picked up. Here ya go!" Two of the origami charms were tossed to Naruto and Sakura, and the last was dropped into Sasuke's palm. "Good luck, you know."

Naruto let his own "present" dangle from his fingers by the red loop. The paper had been folded, creatively, to resemble a frog. Or maybe it was modern art? Either way, he didn't really care...

"Don't. You. Dare." The threat came from next to him, and Naruto sweatdropped at the sudden change of tone Sakura had taken. The ornament hanging from her hand was a delicately folded branch of cherry blossoms, each petal a pale pink . _Riiight... not complaining_. It's the thought that counted, went the saying.

In his opinion, though, he certainly deserved more than a piece of paper that looked like a piece of modern art desperately attempting to resemble frog.

"It's a tradition to hang those up when a new Hokage is selected. A bit of a good luck charm for the age ahead," Kakashi said, in a quieter tone that before. Sakura stared at hers, and then her eyes brightened. "Oh, yeah, I remember! You write your wish on the back, hang it in your window, and if the bell isn't ripped off by the next morning, the new Hokage's term is supposed to be fortunate and bountiful."

"Hmph. Old wives' tale," was the muttered reply from Sasuke. Still, the young genin carefully tucked the ornament into the sleeve of his yukata and the cloud of gloom that had hovered over him seemed to lift a little. With nod towards his teammates (one that made Kakashi grin at the effort Sasuke was putting forth to maintain his grim composure), Sasuke stared at the colorful stalls ahead of them. "Let's get something to eat before wandering around."

"Oh, good! What do you want, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura blushed, her short pink hair brushing against her cheekbones as she peered out over the food stands. Even now, as they waved goodbye to Kakashi before he disappeared somewhere else, she could imagine him heading straight for the simpler fare -- a small sushi stand took up a fraction of a corner, or perhaps even the dried squid booth that was next to the sushi.

"...How about Ramen?"

At this, both Sakura and Naruto blinked, then the fox-boy grinned manically. "Alright, Sasuke, my man! About time you went over to the forces of greater good!" Naruto nearly bounded over to the stand, with his two teammates following at a slower pace. At this, Sasuke managed a wry grin.

"You looked ready to pee your pants, you were so anxious," Sasuke deadpanned, and Sakura managed to force her snort of laughter to come out more like a choked giggle. The happiness suddenly drained from Naruto's face as he waited for the two to catch up to him under the bright red banners of the open-air Ramen shop. "You're going to pay for that, you know. I'm getting the most expensive thing on the menu, now."

"Naruto! Don't waste Sasuke-kun's money..!"

"You know what, I'm hungry. Better make that _two_ orders for me!"

"Uzumaki Naruto..!"

He sat down on the stool and propped his elbow on the counter, then rested his chin in his hand. Training with Kakashi-sensei for a month straight, alone, he had almost missed Naruto and Sakura.

"Hey, dude, was that a smile?" Naruto broke off the argument, leaving the annoyed Sakura to stare dumbfounded at Sasuke. "A what?"

Any remnants of a smile disappeared. "You two just order, already!"

...

"Naruto, try not to get into trouble out there," Sakura called, and the fox boy waved a hand over his shoulder in reply. Watching him go, the girl sighed. "Letting him go off by himself is trouble waiting to happen, I know it."

"At least we won't be around to get caught up in it," Sasuke muttered. When Sakura shot him a look that was borderline angry, he coughed and turned away. "How bad could it turn out?"

Both stopped, and pondered, their minds playing through nearly the exact same scenes. Naruto painting the carved faces of the former Hokage, blowing his cover while trying to rescue Sasuke from Haku's ice mirrors, getting the bright idea of opening the Earth scroll during the Chuunin exams...

Sakura let a tiny squeak escape her as the Uchiha boy caught her arm in a firm hold. "Sa-Sasuke-kun..."

"Let him. Not fair of us to spoil his fun."

Simple logic, but it still made her uneasy. Then again, after pulling through the exams and stopping Gaara, Naruto deserved a chance to prove himself responsible enough to go wandering through large crowds of easily agitated, higher-level, shinobi on his own, didn't he?

That little nagging voice in her mind told her that, _technically_, he should be able to... and the much louder voice of her inner mind told her that now was the perfect time to spend some time alone with Sasuke -- no enemy ninjas, no activated curse seal. Gently tugging her arm out of his hand (which wasn't something she was entirely happy to do), Sakura nodded in agreement. "Fine, but maybe we should have told him to meet up with us somewhere in an hour or so..?"

"It won't take much to find him if something goes wrong." And, with that, Sasuke nearly disappeared into the midst of the partying Konohagakure citizens. With a panicked blink of surprise, Sakura weaved her way in as well.

...

He moved at a quick pace, barely skipping by a rather brutish man who had a scar that ran from the corner of his lips up to his ear, and almost bumping headfirst into another shinobi, his konoha headband down over his eyes. Naruto dodged under the clasped hands of a young couple, and finally managed to find a pocket in the celebration to get a reading of his surroundings. Color, more color... lights... food... a few games...

"You call that a throw? Where's that ferocious dignity and grace the Inuzuka clan is known for?"

"I don't have dignity and grace, you lousy con-man..!" There was a resounding thwack to his right, followed by frenzied barking. Although the source of the voices was blocked by other game stands, it didn't take a genius (which Naruto definitely wasn't) to figure out who.

"Kiba, please... s-stop..!" Hinata was literally pleading with the taller boy, and Akamaru nervously trotted in circles around them both. Shino, as emotionless as ever, watched the three of them without a sound, eyes hidden by his dark sunglasses. Catching a glimpse of Naruto, as the fox boy tried his best to seem uninterested by the scene, Shino nodded his head.

"Hey, uh... wonder seeing you here...?" Starting a conversation with the bug controller was just about as entertaining as talking to a brick wall. And, in his youth, Naruto had been reduced to conversing with many such walls (It took practice, but once you had enough experience, the walls were actually wonderful companions... provided you didn't have any friends to compare them to).

"Not that it took much effort to find us..." Shino's eyebrows lifted, and Naruto tried his best to follow the subject of his line of vision. Akamaru was still running circles around Hinata (who looked like she was ready to hide in her kimono, if it was possible), and Kiba was searching his yukata sleeves for a few more yen pieces to slam down on the counter and have another go at the game.

"One more try, cheater. You aren't gonna insult me!"

"K-Kiba-san! Please!"

More barking from Akamaru, and the cycle repeated itself all over again. Sweatdropping, Naruto watched, silent as Shino. Although, his unusual quiet was more from being dumbfounded than upholding the stoic mask that Shino wore. Hinata, face red from the embarrassed blush that had spread across it, slowly backed away from the game stand. "Sometimes, Kiba-san can be kind of scary..."

"You said it..." Naruto commented, not paying any attention as Hinata jumped at the sound of his voice. "N-Naruto-san! I-I, um, I... H-hello!"

"Oh, hey." The greeting was paired with a smile, the same carefree grin that literally made the Hyuuga's heart skip a beat whenever she saw it. As if by habit, her arms curled up and she poked her index fingers together. If anything, the blush on her cheeks only got redder.

"Kiba, geez, you suck!"

The statement, although not entirely untrue, was enough to snap Hinata out of her Naruto-induced haze, make the Inuzuka pause and growl, and even Shino raised an eyebrow in recognition. Instinctive aggression overpowered Kiba's aura, even making Akamaru scuttle behind his master, holding his tail between his legs. The stall owner shivered and suddenly ran out to the back to restock his prizes (even though no one had won the entire night). Paper lanterns above them fizzled and died. Across the way, the okonomiyaki burst into uncontrollable flames.

But, most surprising of all, with one last wind-up pitch, the milk bottles toppled.

All four genins were quiet, although for entirely different reasons. Shino was content just watching what would come out of this, as the stall owner meekly pulled down the dog plushie that Kiba pointed to with a sharply clawed finger; Hinata and Akamaru were as close to praying as they ever could be. And Naruto..?

He wore his usual fox-grin. The narrow-eyed smile that made you squirm and wonder what exactly was in his ramen. "Bah. I could still beat that."

Hinata's prayer increased in importance tenfold. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that Kiba would keep his cool and the carnage would be reduced to a minimum. When nothing happened, she nervously peeked open one silvery-white eye.

Kiba, for all his usually ferocious temper, stood calmly by the game stall, the giant stuffed dog thrown over his shoulder. Naruto blinked, confused that his goading had done nothing. Kiba still said nothing as he stepped away from the stand (and the stall owner sighed in relief behind the Inuzuka's back), and wordlessly thrust the giant doll into Hinata's hands.

The Hyuuga blushed deeply, and once again started to stutter. "K-Kiba-kun, y-you don't really..."

The red triangles on his cheeks crinkled as he beamed at her, his longer-than-normal canine teeth and messy hair making him look all too much like one of the dogs his family was famous for working with. "Take it, Hinata-chan."

The words probably would have seemed less sweet to her if she only bothered to look at the raised middle finger Kiba held behind his back. Shino shrugged at the insult, but Naruto, whom the finger was meant for, felt a competitive spirit nearly unrivaled to anything else he had ever felt before rise up in him.

Blue eyes aflame with a challenge, Naruto shoved Kiba out of the way and grabbed Hinata's free hand. "Come on, Hinata-chan. I'll get something for you!"

"Naruto! Y-y-you don't n-need to, re-really!" But, alas, all efforts were in vain, so the brunette tried to hold onto the oversized dog plushie as well as she could with one hand. Silvery eyes wide, she followed Naruto into the crowd, much aware of the agitation that was clouding Kiba's aura.

By his partner's feet, Akamaru whined and tucked his tail in between his legs. Normally, the dog would stick with his ninja owner through thick and thin; nothing could separate them. But the human that towered over him now was not the Kiba that he usually knew. In fact, Akamaru only saw such raw aggression during a fight. Shino, as expertly as any bomb squad member, placed a hand on Kiba's shoulder, and jerked his head at Naruto and Hinata. "Calm down, and we'll go follow them."

The request diffused Kiba almost as effectively as Naruto had set him off. When the Inuzuka's shoulders finally relaxed, Akamaru barked happily. Kiba's face, once a mix of emotions, ranging from anger to rivalry, and even jealousy, finally smoothed. But the fanged smile that he wore was anything but calm.

Without a care for anyone else, Kiba charged through the crowd, leaving Shino and Akamaru behind to share looks. With nary a word or bark spoken, they both understood their situation completely.

Tonight was going to be a rough night.

...

Hinata gasped, and nimbly ducked out of the way of the oncoming pedestrians. Naruto was still running, and nothing seemed to be able to slow him down. Not games, not the other genin that wandered the streets and tried to say hello, not even ramen. By now, the Hyuuga was started to worry if her arm would ever have feeling in it again.

Everything was dulled, however, when she grasped the truth of the situation. Here Naruto, the boy she would be all-too-willing to spend the rest of her life with, searching for a gift for her. They were together, alone, at a festival. It was as close as she had ever come to a dream come true.

The wild ride ended, and she was faintly aware of the orange and yellow fabric of the bright tent they were in. Naruto let go over her hand (she untangled her fingers with disappointment) and grinned widely -- a devilish grin that had once, in the past, forebode his multiple pranks. He paused for a moment, however, and leaned in closer to Hinata, the grin replaced by concern.

"Hinata-chan, are you okay? Your face is bright red..."

"Ah, uhm... I-I'm fine, Naruto-kun! We... we were just running a bit too fast." Again, her fingers returned to poking one another, and the blond nodded at her explanation. "Right... Sorry about that."

"Oh! Um..." She reached out to touch his shoulder, but Naruto had already shifted his attention. Blue eyes wild, he reached into his frog-shaped money pouch and slapped a couple of coins on the game stall counter. The man behind the counter, ignorant to Naruto's actions, continued to read his magazine. As she looked around, Hinata noticed the large, and very deep, tub of water beside the counter, and in it she could see the occasional flash of orangey-gold.

"Hey, you!" Naruto impatiently drummed his fingers on the counter, and the man directed one eye towards him, then turned back to his reading material. "Nets are hung up on the wall. You have one try."

The blond marched up, grabbed one of the small fishnets, and turned to the tub, already trying to spot the perfect target. Hinata, still as nervous as ever, strode up to where Naruto stood, net poised above the water. From behind them, the stall owner droned, "Good luck."

"I don't need it." Naruto, amazingly, fell quiet. The Hyuuga girl looked over the edge of the tub, and her silvery-white eyes widened. Goldfish of all colors and sizes swam lazily about in circles; although many were the fairly common golden-yellow type, a few spectacular fish with long, rippling fins floated in a mellow sort of way near the bottom. Already, she could see Naruto's eyes light up as he focused on the largest fish in the tub. His arm moved back, in order to gain more speed for the strike, and she only had enough time to squeak out "Naruto-kun! W-wait!"

There was a loud splash, and a small wave of water that cascaded out of the rim of the tub. With a raised eyebrow, the stall owner glanced up at his customer and choked back a chuckle. The foolish boy was close to drowning himself, he was so submerged in the water; one hand held onto the rim of the tub, while the other was viciously swiping about for his fishy "victim". The Hyuuga girl squeaked in surprise, as a particularly large, fancy goldfish jumped out of the water, and managed to flop about on the boy's back while he was still underwater.

Like a shot, Naruto tore his head and body out of the tub, water flying in all directions and dripping off his nose onto the floor, and looked wildly around. When Hinata just stared into the tub, he followed her gaze, only to see his targeted fish stare dully back at him. The fish opened its mouth, letting a single bubble float up to the surface, where it popped defiantly in his face.

"Aw, heck no!" The genin prepared for another strike, eyes aflame, as the goldfish sat there, unawares, just below the surface of the water. Hinata shifted her eyes from boy to fish, and cautiously stepped out of the way of any waves of water to come. When Naruto once again went to move, the net ready to meet the water like an incoming meteor, there was a soft "pop!" and the net was halted at the surface of the water, making tiny ripples.

"You only get one chance per payment," was all that the stall owner said. Hinata blinked at his sudden appearance; the man had shown up with the same poof of smoke that heralded a Jounin's entrance. Quickly, Naruto thought through his choices; that money was his entire life savings... it would be better to quit while he was ahead, right? Already, he could hear the Sakura-like voice nagging him for being so irresponsible with his money.

The fish hadn't moved, and another bubble floated lazily up to the surface. With a swish of its fan-like tail, the goldfish swam back towards the bottom of the tub.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he reached into his money pouch and pulled out another few coins, placing them in the stall owner's hand. "I'm not giving up, yet."

Looking at the face of the stall owner, who knew he had just roped in another sucker, Hinata inwardly groaned. What he was doing for her was flattering, yes... but she wasn't sure she wanted to see the outcome.

...

"Graaaaghh! You gotta be kidding me!"

She shyly sat down on the game counter, and shared a look with the stall owner. Naruto had been playing for a half-hour straight, now; the digging in his moneybag and toss of coins up onto the counter had become almost mechanical by now. With every failed attempt, he only seemed to get angrier at the fish. Not that it wouldn't have hurt if he had even changed his target, but Hinata imagined that Naruto had found himself a new challenge in attaining the carnival prize.

She did wish, however, that he could not over exaggerate so much... already he had gathered a small audience.

"Alright, outta my way. 'Scuse me! Coming through. Hey, hands to yourself!"

"Bark! Bark!"

The kunoichi looked up at the crowd, not entirely surprised to see Kiba (and Akamaru) fight his way to the front, Shino tailing silently behind. The Inuzuka clansman took one look at the swamped grass around the tub, Naruto's soaked yukata, and the small fortune that sat on the counter between Hinata and the stall owner. Hinata blushed, and tried a small half-shrug to convey what genin team already knew.

Naruto was going to kill himself trying to nab a pain-in-the-butt, 250-yen goldfish.

Kiba stood there, silently smiling; Akamaru had nearly the same exact expression on his own fuzzy mug. Shino could only sigh in exasperation at what was to come...

"Geez, Naruto, you suck!" Hinata could see Naruto's shoulders tighten, and she, once again, prayed another fight wouldn't break out between the two. With another lightning-fast scoop of the net, a trail of fishy-tasting water was flung at Kiba, and the genin quickly dodged out of the way.

Seeing that the fox boy was perturbed enough as it was (and that he had already made enough money on the boy), the stall owner let the water-fling slide.

Kiba blinked and his face lit up with another smile, this one more sinister than before, as he softly chuckled. A light hand on his shoulder, courtesy of Shino, cut him off; unable to rub his victory in Naruto's face, Kiba sulked.

...

Sakura was certain that, as the fifth small child ran by her and nearly stepped on the hem of her kimono, that something was definitely going on. While she and Sasuke had been enjoying some ginger ice cream, a slow trickle of children and curious passerby had been steadily moving towards the gaming area. And, not only were the annoying little brats close to ruining her newest garment, but they were also interrupting her time with the Uchiha heir.

Both charges, her inner Sakura reasoned, were close to punishable.

So, with not-entirely-false curiosity, Sakura managed to "accidentally" drag Sasuke towards the growing crowd of people. Although stuck at the back, she repeatedly heard bits and snatches of conversation.

"What kind of nitwit would bother trying so hard?"

"I know... it's just a fish!"

"Well, nice to know that the future generation isn't full of as many dead-beats as we thought."

"Mom, can I go swimming too?"

"I'd hate to be that guy's girlfriend! Look at her, she's probably embarrassed to death!"

The two members of team 7 didn't even have to share a look. This much of a commotion could only mean one thing: Naruto.

They finally made it past the pack of Konohagakure citizens, and stumbled into the free space that was the borders of Naruto's audience. The two of them had been expecting something out of the ordinary, but the scene that lay before them was beyond what they had imagined.

Team 6 was mulling around the front counter, Hinata gently hugging a large stuffed animal as she watched Naruto's valiant efforts, chewing her bottom lip as she did so. The game stall owner was back to reading his magazine, emotionlessly reaching over and hitting a button on his cashier every time the fox boy threw a few more coins on the counter. And Naruto... Naruto was soaking wet, his hair nearly plastered against his forehead. Physically, he seemed tired, but otherwise... Sasuke briefly wondered if he would have to drag his teammate home before the blond gave up.

"What a nitwit... Someone stop him before he ends up hurting himself..." The voice was all too familiar, and Sakura briefly glanced at Shikamaru and Chouji, who had staked out spots by the edges of the tent. Chouji shrugged, and tilted his container of fried octopus towards his friend. Not even bothering to look away from the spectacle, Shikamaru grabbed one of the fried treats and popped it in his mouth, then waved a hand at the remainder of team 7. "Sasuke, Sakura, get your idiot teammate out of here, will you?"

Whether it was possible to die from shame or not, Sakura suddenly felt that she was very close to it. As Shikamaru and Chouji chummed around, the former watching Naruto's struggle with the goldfish as attentively as if the antics before him were a death match chess game, Sakura noticed that something was missing out of the equation.

At first she was afraid to ask, as if mentioning her name would bring about the very person whom Sakura hoped would stay missing. Finally mustering up the courage, after a crowd-wide chorus of "Ooohhh..."s as the fish barely slipped out of the fox boy's grasp, she glanced over at the male members of cell 6.

"Where's Ino?"

Chouji hurriedly swallowed his bite of octopus, and gestured with his chopsticks towards the back of the crowd. "She can't stand the smell of fried octopus or squid... Makes her sick."

Looking at the crispy, golden-brown tentacles, some of the suckers still visible, Sakura couldn't help but agree with the other female ninja. She saw Shikamaru's eyes widen before she heard the splash, and whipped her head around just in time to see the water in the tub overflow. All was quiet, until two pale arms lifted out of the water, twisting the net shut so that the fish inside couldn't once again leap to freedom. The head of Naruto followed the net, and the boy looked so proud of himself that he even earned a modest applause from the group of onlookers. Even Kiba, for all his formerly jealous mood, felt that the moment didn't deserve to be ruined.

"Hinata-chan! Got it!" As Naruto struggled out of the tub, Shino wordlessly got a plastic bag from the stack on top of the counter, filled it halfway with water, and held it open as the fox boy unceremoniously dumped the fish inside. With a quick twist and overhand knot, the blond presented the bagged-up goldfish with the same exuberance of a little kid giving a bouquet of flowers to his mother.

Hinata stared at the fish, her face once again turning a bright red, and humbly accepted the gift, stuttering "T-thank you, N-naruto-kun..."

Naruto managed a half-hearted salute and ginned uncontrollably at the Hyuuga. "No prob!"

And with that, Sasuke's prediction about dragging his teammate home came true.

* * *

Hope you had fun reading it. And, as usual, another evil little one-shot is forming in my head. Darn it! >. But if you liked it, please review. Reviews make the world go 'round.


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